The sounds of roosters cawing filled the Piehl Arena on Thursday morning as Senior and Junior 4-H members showed off their chickens and ducks.
Looks weren’t the only thing the judge was admiring about the animals, he was also testing the children’s knowledge.
Bobby Johns, a retired school teacher, carefully looked over each bird one by one before making his final comments to the audience and announcing the winners.
A graduate of Bowling Green State University, Johns served 18 years on the Agriculture Society in Sandusky County and was superintendent of poultry and rabbits. Raising birds since he was in sixth grade, Johns’ is no stranger to county fairs as he has also been judging poultry for more than 30 years.
Showing that he used to working with sleeping early crowds Johns began his first set comments by waking the crowd up with two letters, O-H.
Once the crowd was alert he began his critiques, careful not to give away anything that would give the later groups an advantage over the first.
During his time Johns also provided a little life knowledge onto the 4-H members.
“All I wants you kids to do is to remember one thing each day,” Johns said. “One thing. That’s all you got to do and in one year you’ll have 365 things you know. You get my age you’re a walking encyclopedia.
“Do your best, don’t worry about it. Didn’t do well this year? There’s always next year.”
One 4-H member will definitely be...
For more on this and other stories, pick up a copy of The Wapakoneta Daily News.